After Brazil's betting ban: how to reallocate your acquisition budget across markets

What happened

Provisional Measure 1,394, published on 25 September, prohibits the operation and advertising of fixed-odds betting in Brazil, online and offline, including offers made by operators based abroad. New deposits stopped the same day. Players had until 5 October to withdraw their balances, and websites and apps were blocked from 6 October. Federal licences end 30 days after publication, and all betting advertising and sponsorship aimed at the Brazilian public must come down.

Before the measure, around 85 licensed companies operated roughly 190 brands in the country. Congress now has 120 days to approve or reject the text, which means the final shape of the market is still open.

What it means for operators and brands

The first lesson is about concentration. Any company that relied on a single market for most of its growth has just seen how fast that growth can stop. The second lesson is that the global opportunity has not gone anywhere. Industry estimates put global iGaming revenue at around $115 billion in 2026, up 12% year on year. Latin America outside Brazil accounts for about $2.8 billion, and Asia Pacific for around $28 billion, with less than half of it under a licensed framework.

The challenge is that no two markets work the same way. Regulation, payment methods, sports calendars, creator ecosystems and player behaviour change from one country to the next. Moving budget is simple. Moving budget well requires a plan.

It is also worth remembering what Brazil taught the industry. It became one of the most dynamic markets in the world in a very short time, driven by mobile adoption, football culture and creator-led communication. That experience is an asset for any team entering a new market.

How to react

Audit your current exposure.

List every sponsorship, creator agreement and media commitment tied to Brazil, with its removal deadline and contractual terms.
Shortlist markets with three filters.

Regulatory stability, acquisition cost and cultural fit with your product. A market that scores high on only one of them is a risk, not an opportunity.
Test before you scale.

Start with controlled budgets, clear delivery targets per country and a 60 to 90 day evaluation window.
Localize, do not translate.

Language, creators, payment methods and the local sports calendar should shape the campaign from the first brief.
Treat your Brazil playbook as a hypothesis.

Formats and messages that worked there are a good starting point, but each one needs to be validated locally.
Keep a scenario for Brazil.

Follow the measure in Congress and keep your local relationships active, so you can move quickly if the framework changes.

Brazil is a strategic market for us, and it will remain one. Because we operate in more than 25 countries, we were able to start reallocating client budgets to other markets in the days that followed the measure, keeping campaigns active while the new regulatory scenario takes shape.

In practice, this means combining local market knowledge with a network of more than 1,000 creators and media assets across different regions, and adapting each campaign to the rules of the market where it runs. The goal is to protect delivery for our clients while the map of opportunities is redrawn.

Let’s talk

If your team is rethinking its market mix after Brazil, we can help you identify where to go next and how to get there with predictable results. Get in touch with Smart Social.

Sources: Yogonet · The Rio Times · Track360, iGaming Industry Statistics 2026